


Troublemaker

by starrylitme



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Caretaking, Developing Relationship, F/M, First Love, Fluff, Love Confessions, Minor Injuries, SHSL Rare Pair Week, Tsunderes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2015-08-22
Packaged: 2018-04-16 16:05:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4631496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrylitme/pseuds/starrylitme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It started just because he's so troubling and worrying, even if she does find herself curious about other things and drawn to him in other ways. That he's always smiling her way, for instance, and always smiling in general even when hurt.</p>
<p>That he also might just like her. And that she might just like him too. Things like that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Troublemaker

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last fic for RPW and I somehow managed to post one every single day not only on time but roughly/mostly in the same time frame. I am AWESOME.
> 
> Last but certainly not least, KomaZumi, one of my favorite rare pairs which I have also affectionately nicknamed "domestic darlings". Because I want to write so much domestic verse with these two.
> 
> For now, have a little slice of fluff where Koizumi is extra tsun at times.

That troubling kid is injured again, she sees, and is again just sitting alone on the swing not doing anything about it. Sighing, she again rips a piece from her already ruined dress and marches over to him, face pinched up and hands on her hips once she stands in front of him, fuming.

“Don’t you boys know how to take it easy?!” she harshly scolds. “Every single day, you’re in this state! Aren’t you worrying your parents too much? That’s so inconsiderate!”

He doesn’t answer, and that just makes her angrier. “Are you even listening?! Even for a boy, you’re so especially rude!!”

He swings his legs, still silent, and she grabs his knee to make him stop. He does, hissing, features twisting up in pain.

“You gotta hold still,” she insists, upset and puffing her lower lip out at him. “You’re still bleeding you know. And you’re all _dirty_.”

Licking the torn piece of cloth, she wiped off the dirt and blood from his scraped knee. The boy was trembling, breathing all sharp and shaking, but in the very he wasn’t crying as she cleaned it and then tied her cloth around his knee in a makeshift bandage before straightening herself back up and throwing him her hand.

“Come on,” she said as he blinked up at her stupidly. She did note that the eye color was unique—a mix of gray and green, like flowery moss on a tree in pictures her mom once took. “Let’s get’cha to the nurse.”

“...Um...” He looked back down. His voice was so quiet, it was almost inaudible. Sighing heavily, she pressed.

“What is it _now_?”

“You’re always doing this for me...” He met her gaze again, surprising her with just how wide and how bright those eyes really were, especially with sincerity in his gaze. “Thank you, Koizumi-san.”

She hadn’t realized he knew her name when she didn’t know his. Just that was enough to have her faltering, stammering, face reddening in ways that outmatched her hair.

“U-Um... Um, um, um...”

“It’s Komaeda. Komaeda Nagito.” The smile on his face was sad. “I’m not surprised you don’t remember.”

“I-I’m...sorry...” Koizumi dropped her head meekly, shrinking in on herself and shamefully fiddling with her fingers. “I didn’t think...you knew either...”

“We don’t really talk a lot, do we?” he asks, cheerfully, clearly making a sad attempt to cheer her up. “All I do is trouble you, after all. Like now.”

Koizumi perked up, seeing that bittersweet expression on his face, the hint of melancholy in those almost minty-tinted irises, and quickly, she snatched up his hand.

“Komaeda,” she tests his name on her tongue. His family name. Distantly, she wonders how his given name would be, even though she can’t bring herself to try it—at least not now. “Let’s talk after we get you to the nurse. There might...be things to talk about?”

“Okay!” he agreed, with so much brightness she was almost blindsided by it, and with trembling lips, she stretched them into a smile across her face and tugged.

* * *

Honestly, it had always been like that with Komaeda. He’d get into trouble, most likely injured as a result, and she’d be unable to just overlook it. It was...troubling. Troubling in other ways as well.

Part of the reason she fusses over him so much is because no one else does. Komaeda’s always been isolated from the rest of the class, being someone who usually eats at his desk rather than with friends and because he had the weirdest misfortunate habit of being sick when people are assigned group projects, he usually worked alone as well. The only other person who spoke to him more than her was the class president and that was only to give him his work, not much if anything else.

Some of the other students liked to gossip about him, this kinda unsettling loner kid, and her friends even teased her about worrying or frowning in his general direction.

“You’re so nice, Mahiru-chan, worrying about someone like that,” some of them would say and she wondered just what exactly that meant. And then there were other things. Like the entertaining idea that maybe she was just attracted to someone like that.

“You’re pretty much the only girl he talks to so if he likes anyone, it’d be you.”

_It’s that simple?_ She wondered, looking towards him with that statement swirling around in her head. Sometimes, he’d notice her stare, and rather than avert his eyes shyly like she would and often wanted to, he smiled so brightly and waved.

She did wave back, smiling tentatively, and her friends giggled more and more.

* * *

Still, she does decide, at some point when they’re both assigned cleaning duty to bring the subject up.

“Komaeda, how do you feel towards me?”

“Happy.” His answer is almost deceptively simple and chipper in tone. He’s tidying up the corners of the classroom first—a cleaning tactic she too starts with. “That Koizumi-san is always looking out for me in spite of everything makes me really, really happy. And grateful, of course! I’m always thankful towards you, Koizumi-san, even now.”

“Even now? It’s not like I’m going out of my way for you at this moment or anything...” she pointed out, to which he laughed.

“You don’t really need to, Koizumi-san. Just spending time with you regardless of the reason is nice.” Humming, he started moving to work on the next corner of the room. “Your presence is calming, after all.”

“Just flattering a person in every other sentence is suspicious, you know,” Koizumi said, narrowing her eyes at him. “Especially if it’s coming from a guy, since that’s just not normal behavior.”

“Oh no, please don’t get the wrong idea!” Despite the exclamation, he was still smiling at her over his shoulder, waving his hand in a ‘not at all’ gesture. “I don’t mean anything _unsavory_ , Koizumi-san.”

_I don’t think unsavory is what came to mind... More like, it’s just strange._

Maybe she’s being too harsh on him. Even as they gotten older, Komaeda’s remained that troubling kid on the swing set, staring at the ground he was digging his heels into rather that the scrapes on his knees. He still ended up with injuries from time to time—most likely from the other boys, because they can be such brutes at times—and very rarely did he ever let the pain he must have felt as suggested by those injuries show in his expression.

Sometimes she wonders what that would suggest about his home life—but from what Komaeda’s mentioned passingly once or twice, his parents rarely seemed to interact with him because they were always so busy. He never seemed bothered by that, either.

Was there _anything_ that bothered this guy with such a constantly calm smile?

“Komaeda...”

“Ah, there’s a spider here,” Komaeda commented, casual and light. “I’m going to go open the window so that it can go outside.”

“Um...” she hesitated, and he walked over to that window to push it open without missing a beat. He seemed to brush something out of his hand— _he could have gotten bitten; why are boys so reckless anyway_ —and then Komaeda sighed, brushing white curls back behind his ear. Koizumi perked up, suddenly, placing her broom aside.

Using her index fingers and thumbs to make a frame, she took in the kind of image Komaeda looking distantly out the window made. How the rays of the sun hit his face in hair, casting a warm tone and a seemingly healthier hue to both. Komaeda was always so pale, so light in his features like a doll, but here, with the way Komaeda stared at the leaves of the trees, filtering sunlight through, with a light to his eyes that she couldn’t quite read, she found herself utterly fixated on this person.

This guy, who noticed what she was doing, and just as she flinched, face going red, she was still viewing him through those makeshift lenses as he smiled warmly.

“Koizumi-san, your mother’s a famous photographer, right? I remember when she talked with the rest of the class on career day.”

Komaeda’s parents hadn’t been able to attend. Even more sheepish thinking that, Koizumi simply nodded, dropping her hands to fiddle with them more normally.

“Do you like taking pictures as well, Koizumi-san?” he was still acting all cheerful and conversational. She was starting to feel like it was a teacher asking her these questions and it was really kind of bothersome. “Ah, of course, if you don’t feel comfortable answering, you don’t have to.”

_Of course, when he says stuff like that, it really doesn’t help..._

“I do.” Koizumi tried making it sound simple enough, raising her chin and trying not to sound too nervous. “What of it?”

“Oh, I don’t mean to imply anything, Koizumi-san,” Komaeda said, quick with a wave of his hands. Still, that smile remained. “I just thought it was an interesting topic to bring up. Photography really suits you, I think.”

_Doesn’t it?_

“I really like taking pictures,” she clarified, sighing. “Mom takes pictures of all kinds of things—plants, animals, people, places—but I just want to take pictures of everyone’s smiling faces, and maybe even capture moments with those I care to look more clearly and fondly back towards.”

“Oh, really?”

_...That kind of response pisses me off._

“Yes, Komaeda, **_really_**.”

“Well, you’ll surely be good at it,” Komaeda replied as smoothly as even, shutting the window as he did. “I can’t wait to see the kind of pictures you take, Koizumi-san. They’ll certainly be great.”

_You really shouldn’t sound so certain about that._ “Thanks... I guess...”

“Eh, what’s with that tone?” He was looking at her with a sort of wide-eyed innocence, even as she wondered the same thing. “Don’t tell me you doubt yourself, Koizumi-san!”

Koizumi gripped the broom tightly in her hands. “It’s just strange how much faith you have in me, Komaeda. Almost like you... _like_ me or something.”

“Well, I do.” Komaeda always talked like it was so easy in spite of the word coming out of his mouth. He was even still looking at her all curiously, childishly, and she felt the urge to whack him for it. “Koizumi-san is very kind, why wouldn’t I like her?”

“T-Then,” she scoffed if only so that her stammering coupled with her face reddening didn’t look so embarrassing. She could pretend it wasn’t. She could. “Shouldn’t you have said that you liked me when I asked how you felt if you’re just going to admit it that bluntly now?”

“Ah... Huh?” He seemed confused. “I thought that was...obvious...?”

“Just because something’s obvious doesn’t mean you shouldn’t outright say it— _especially_ if it’s something someone _wants_ to hear!”

“I...like you, Koizumi-san?”

“Why are you saying it like a question?!”

“I like you, Koizumi-san!”

“That’s too forceful! Be more considerate of girls! If you’re coming across too strongly, they’ll feel pressured!”

“...Um...” She felt almost vindicated at the sight of a blush rising on Komaeda’s cheeks. It stood out more on him than it did her since he was so pale. But, with a tinge of bitterness, she also found it looked nicer because of that contrast of pinks and whites. Especially with the way those soft minty-gray eyes flickered towards her own, Komaeda keeping his head low before saying, as clear and as steadily as he could, stumbling only at the start, “I...like you, Koizumi-san.”

_Wait... What?_

The situation she got herself in finally washed over her, and she felt her face go an almost unbearably hot as she stammered, “I-I... I like you, too...?”

_No, wait. Try that again. It’s only fair._ “I like you too, Komaeda.”

“It’s no surprise you’re better at that than I am,” Komaeda laughed, but this time it was awkwardly, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Ah, but, sorry Koizumi-san.”

“Eh?” she perked up, completely at a loss. “For _what_?”

“Well, I can’t really believe this is happening,” he rambled on, light and giggles a bit wheezy. They sounded almost painful. Frowning, Koizumi found herself walking closer as he went on and on, “I mean, someone like Koizumi-san liking someone like me? It’s probably just a joke—but, no, Koizumi-san’s too kind for that... Maybe a dream? Ah yes, a dream! It has to be a dream! And any moment now, I’ll wake up—probably in the bed in the nurse’s office again—though, I don’t think even my wildest dreams considered the possibility of Koizumi-san saying that she...”

Komaeda trailed off. They were standing real close to one another now, her stare intense and exasperated. Komaeda’s blush darkened, his smile trembling at bit, making Koizumi scoff into her hand at how unexpectedly cute the sight is.

“Koi...zumi-san...?”

“I can hit you,” she offered, “to show you’re not dreaming if you want. I kind of want to.”

He blinked at her, reeling, and then nodded slowly, shutting his eyes to prepare for it. Annoyingly, she thought he looked more like he was preparing for a kiss rather than a slap. She’s more annoyed with herself for thinking of it.

_This guy..._

Taking in a deep breath, she swing her hand back only to still before it reached him, instead resting her fingers against his cheek more carefully.

_He’s always worrying me because he’s so troubling at time..._

Komaeda’s eyes fluttered back open, dazed and a bit confused. “Koizumi-san?”

_I really, really like him._

“See?” she asked, trying to play it off as casually as she could with her entirely red face and her hand brushing against his cheek to cup his face against it, thumb running over the curve. “I’m the real thing after all. I could have _told_ you that but—boys can be so dense.  You, especially, sometimes.”

Komaeda stared blankly back at her, unresponsive for a few moments. Koizumi does tense, wondering if maybe she should just pull away— _this is getting to be rather awkward_ —but then she flinches when, with a sigh, Komaeda nuzzles into her hand.

There’s a smile slipping across his lips, his eyes falling back shut, and with that pink tint still to his cheeks, the word that came to her mind for describing it was _bliss_. **_Happiness_**. She could only swallow, heart pounding just a little bit harder.

She stares at him hard, even more intensely, part of her hoping it’s enough to imprint this moment onto her mind permanently. It’s such a nice moment—it’s unfair to not be able to _save it_ —

“So,” she says, stilted and unsure. Komaeda again flickers his eyes open, that smile falling from his face, but he’s more expectant. Patient. Maybe even as nervous as she was?

_And wouldn’t **that** be nice considering how this guy _normally _is—_

“Since we like each other... The next step is you asking me out, right?” Koizumi pulls her hand back, fingers tingling as she tried to not wipe her clammy palm on her skirt. She kept her chin up; keeping the steadiest and sternest expression she could muster. “I mean, that _is_ what’s supposed to happen.”

“Eh, well, as happy as I am Koizumi-san returns my feelings—I don’t think I can say something like that...” He does have the decency to look ashamed, to her aggravation. “If I do, the windows could just break without warning before you say yes.”

“Fine!” Koizumi threw up her hands in exasperation. “Then I’m asking _you_ out! Let’s walk home together! Why not!”

“That’d be great!” _You’ve **got** to be kidding._

Komaeda was beaming again, except he also looked nervously at the windows like they might actually break. Somehow though, she quirked a smile as she sighed, turning on her heel and saying over her shoulder, “We have to finish cleaning first, Komaeda. After that, we’ll leave together.”

“Yes, Koizumi-san!” His agreement was still bright. She felt herself blushing again but quickly brushed it off. That would have been it, except...

“How about we...use first names... N... _Nagito_?”

“Sure thing, Mahiru-san.”

_He didn’t even miss a_ beat _..._ “ _Urgh_...”

“Ah, did I say something wrong, Mahiru-san?”

“No... No. No, Nagito, you’re...fine. I guess... Now back to cleaning! We’ve wasted enough time as it is!”

“Oh! Sure thing, Mahiru-san!”

_...In the very least, he does sound like he enjoys saying it..._ she thought grumpily with a groan. _But, oh Mahiru, what have you gotten yourself into?_

Maybe it’s _because_ he was such a troubling person—and so _worrying_! Maybe she had gotten protective of him somewhere down the line or she ended up worrying so _much_ that it just because commonplace for him to be on her mind. And, yeah, maybe he _was_ a bit too attractive for his own good in spite of the trouble he always got into, but that’s hardly a reason to be as attached as she was.

He really _was_ a really _worrying_ person. She did worry a lot. She was probably going to be worrying a lot more now that they’re dating. Dating. Her and Komae—

Nagito. Her and Nagito.

Nagito was humming to himself as he was moping, the tune sounding like something she remembered from a classical track or something. He noticed her staring and smiles like he always does, but it’s brighter, more enthusiastic and she wonders if he’s really that excited for a simple walk together.

All the same, she just smiles back and the two get back to finishing up their duties. After that, they’ll walk home together and she’ll finally ask her mother if she could keep that spare camera. She’s going to need it if she doesn’t want to lose any more of these moments of surprising happiness.


End file.
